Big games mean big money

Friday

It's not just Pittsburgh Steelers fans excited about the AFC Championship Game taking place this Sunday in the city.

And it's not just businesses in Downtown Pittsburgh and the surrounding area that are cashing in.

Hotels, restaurants and retailers from western Allegheny County and Beaver and Lawrence counties already seeing increased business from local residents following their home team also are soaking up augmented commerce from folks coming from all over the country to celebrate the big game.

VisitPittsburgh, Allegheny County's official tourism agency, estimated last Saturday's AFC Divisional Playoff Game in the city against the Baltimore Ravens brought $19.2 million in spending to the local economy, and officials are estimating Sunday's game will bring another $22.9 million to the region.

It is hard to pinpoint exactly how much of that money will come to the outlying areas, but Erica Wachtel, president of the Beaver County Chamber of Commerce, said many area stores that sell sports apparel and snack foods are booming.

She said Beaver County hotels weren't seeing much of an impact early in the week, but they were expecting things to pick up closer to game day as more and more hotels in the region fill up.

Wachtel added that even the car rental agencies are expecting to see increased business as groups of people rent large vehicles to travel into the city for the NFL festivities.

Noting that according to VisitPittsburgh figures the local economy got as much as a $23 million bump from the NHL Winter Classic, which pitted the Penguins against the Washington Capitals, Wachtel said, "In the last few weeks, between the Penguins and Steelers, business has been good."

Individual stores would not comment on their sales figures so far, but Lori Reda, director of marketing for the Beaver Valley Mall, said shops carrying Steelers merchandise are raking it in. "Obviously, they are very excited about the Steelers and hope they make it to the Super Bowl," she said.

"We are off to a great start to the year," echoed Sally Haas, executive director of the Pittsburgh Airport Area Chamber of Commerce. She said hotel rooms are rapidly filling up and area restaurants and stores are expecting to see a lot of business.

Tom Spoto, general manager of Embassy Suites in Moon Township, said that before it was determined that the game would be in Pittsburgh this week the facility was expecting 60 percent occupancy on Saturday. Now, as of Thursday afternoon, the hotel was pretty much booked for Saturday night, and Sunday, typically the slowest day for hotels, also was expected to be a sellout.

"There have been a lot of last-minute bookings," Spoto said, noting that a similar thing happened with the Winter Classic, when the hotel picked up about 65 more rooms filled than initially expected.

"These events help us," he said, "especially when most of the Downtown hotels are sold out."

Rick Yarosz, director of sales for the Holiday Inn in Moon, said he expects his hotel also to be sold out this weekend. He said the Holiday Inn is helped out by a fan base that prefers to stay in the Pittsburgh International Airport area because fans can take shuttles right from the airport to the hotel and still have easy access to the city.

"They have learned the city is not so far away," he said.

Noting that his hotel hosted a group from the Washington Capitals during the Winter Classic, Yarosz said all the recent major sporting events in the city have been appreciated. "(They) have been a great impact for us," he said.